Pages

Tahoe- SIlver Mined, Gold Standard CSR

Wednesday, 16 October, 2013

Tahoe Resources Inc. (TSX:THO)(NYSE:TAHO) shipped the first silver-bearing metals concentrates from its Escobal mine in Guatemala.

Tahoe President and CEO Kevin McArthur said: "The Guatemalan team is delivering on the promises made in 2010 to responsibly construct and operate a world-scale silver mine within three years of design, permitting and financing."

“Responsibly construct?” sounds good..

Escobal is now in ramp up to 3500 tonnes per day (tpd) with full production expected in Q1 2014. There was even a clear signal in the announcement of commitment towards Land Citizenship, Kevin McArthur went on to say in the announcement: "…Once we have reached that milestone, we will turn to the next important task--stakeholder returns through Guatemala federal taxes, a strong community-based royalty and dividends to our shareholders,"

Wow. In the excitement of producing something Tahoe took the time to remind investors that it has a structured fiscal regime in place, aligning the Company with the people of Guatemala.

This promoted the CSR21.org team to have a look at the publically available offering of community relations on the website. We found a that Tahoe to have a long term, serious commitment to CSR evidenced by the dedicated blog found at:

Case studies, articles communications, education, jobs, licencing, environmental reports; it is all here at Tahoe, kept up to date and with lots of images to really engage with the Company’s programmes.

Coming back to Mr McArthurs quote on the fiscal agreement, an area of the CSR-website section get down to the “hard stuff”. Tahoe outlines the fundamental economics, worked through a real model at $25 silver, to extrapolate the economic benefits Tahoe brings to the country and local community at full production. It is as follows:

“The Escobal Project will benefit the local communities and the people of Guatemala through the following (based on $25.00 silver):

Income taxes and royalties paid to the Federal government are expected to amount to over $50 million per year;

Royalties and taxes to the local government and royalties to the land owners association are expected to average in excess of $15 million annually;

IVA taxes average $6.2 annually and will total $20.5 during the construction period.

Wages and salaries in Guatemala average $17.3 million annually, including payroll taxes of $1 million per year;

Goods and services purchased in Guatemala during the three year exploration and construction period amount to approximately $70 million;

Goods and services purchased annually in Guatemala during operations are expected to be approximately $26 million;

The project is expected to employ over 500 people directly in Guatemala during the expected 20-year mine life.

Tahoe is a good example of a company that has successfully got into production and treated its host country as a partner. These elements are directly connected, as garnering collective support for projects in central and South America can be extremely tricky.

ENDS

Photo: Xiomara Orellana from the village of Sabana Redonda works on a project in the silversmith class.